What Is and What Never Was
by Charmed Sweetly
Summary: Today was said to be the happiest day of Hermione Granger's life, and while he shared in her joy, he couldn't help but feel a little cheated.  DMHG  Complete


**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used or anything associated with the Harry Potter franchise. **

**A/N: **So this is a runaway plot bunny that wouldn't leave my head after I looked back at my past relationships and my current relationship. They say art imitates life so what better way than this and being able to share with all of you?

Happy reading.

**What Is and What Never Was**

Today was said to be the happiest day of Hermione Granger's life, and while he shared in her joy, he couldn't help but feel a little cheated.

While he had always known he would share in this day meant for love, meant for light and the warm tinkling of her laughter in the air, he had always seen it differently.

He had always thought, in the back of his mind, that one day the happiest day of her life would be the happiest day of his.

Him and her. Together.

In his mind, he hadn't planned to be someone helping her get ready, or even being allowed in the room for that matter.

They'd laugh at his attempts to get a glimpse of her rosy, blushing cheeks, tinged pink from her genuine happiness. He would know she was beautiful, without even having to see her, but he would valiantly attempt to, or at least send one of his mates to maybe attempt to sneak a photograph.

The women folk would catch him of course and none of his mates would be brave enough to against the other strong-willed women in there with her but he would have tried.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway because he would still know she was beautiful, even before they told him that and kicked him down the other end of the hall so he would get ready. He would have done it more because he knew she would laugh.

He loved her laughter.

But here they were, on the happiest day of Hermione Granger's life; because after today she wouldn't be Hermione Granger anymore.

She would have a different name. It just wouldn't be his.

And maybe he should have known better; the two of them had always understood it wouldn't be easy. Friends, they had wanted in the beginning. Him, because it was what he wanted; because he had been too scared to embrace the uncertainties of a relationship in the aftermath of a warzone as heroes who had survived.

He had never thought he would be a hero.

And she... She had done it because it was what he wanted and she respected his decisions.

There hadn't really been much of a choice for her. What other option did she have? You couldn't really be in a relationship with someone who didn't want to be one.

Ironic that they would be here.

Him, finally ready, and her, ready to spend the rest of her life with another man.

Life never went as expected.

And when she caught his gaze through the mirror from the large vintage vanity where her unruly curls were being pinned, she seemed to understand his struggle.

They had never really talked about this. _This._ Whatever '_this' _was. They had never really spoken about the end of them, of what could have been.

She stilled Ginny's hands and smiled radiantly at the rest of the women in the room.

"I need some time with this half of my men of honour," she smiled at them, gesturing to him.

The ladies thought none of it as they filed out of the room, some even laughing at his recently added title, though not as much as they had when they were at Hermione's bachelorette party.

With the sound of the clicking of a door shutting closed, silence engulfed the room.

And then it was just them.

Ron and Hermione.

She gestured to the chaise opposite her chair and he sat down, neither of them speaking for minutes that seemed more like hours. How does one go about starting a conversation like this?

It was she who broke the quiet first.

"You have the worst timing ever," she told him with a small, quiet smile. "Some things never change."

He gestured to her glittering engagement ring. "And some things do."

Her warm gaze flittered to the ring for a moment, a deep coursing fire in her eyes. "Yes they do." She replied. "I love him, very much."

Ron wasn't sure if the words hurt him or not. They probably didn't. She may have once compared his emotional range to that of a teaspoon but he'd like to think he understood his feelings a little better. He would have known if it hurt. While it stung, a twinge of something wasn't hurt, just longing.

A dull steady throb that passes with enough time.

"Years ago, if you had asked anybody, it would be us they'd be betting on," he told her, his hands messing up his red hair. "I never meant to bring this up, 'specially not today, but I... Bloody hell, I couldn't just..."

"Let it go like this." Hermione nodded, understanding.

Of course she did.

"In life, we'll always have what if's... But being in love, really in love, helps quiet some of them," she said. "When you're getting married, there will always be what if's, but if it's the right person, the love outweighs the need to keep testing what's out there."

His eyes were trained on her face, the one she makes when she's in deep thought.

"We can't base our lives off the what if's or else we'll never get anywhere," Hermione murmured with a smile. "In another life, maybe it would be us meant to share our lives together, but in this one, we're meant to walk through it as friends."

He nodded, a small tentative smile forming. "I guess somewhere in my head I'd always thought it would be RonandHermione, not just Ron and Hermione."

"Some people are meant to fall in love but they're not meant to stay together," the bride stated, grasping his hand in hers. "I've met all sorts of people, many who have come and gone. They taught me things. They were meant to hurt me and love me and walk with me and leave me. Our lesson was just a long time in the making."

The auburn headed man squeezed her hand and let the words sink in. Really sink in.

"You really love him, I know," he agreed, his brow furrowing. "Still hard to believe that."

"Superficial personality traits aside, me and him are more alike than even the both of us had thought." The look in her eyes was glazed with pleasant memories and love.

He laughed. "I should have known you were too good for me. Hermione Granger only gets the best."

"Ronald," she muttered as she rolled her eyes, "I got the man that's best for me. One of these days you'll find the woman that's best for you."

And Ronald Weasley took that to heart, because Hermione Granger was rarely wrong and he had a sneaking suspicion that she was right about this.

"Now go, get those women back here before I'm late in getting ready. They'll have a hard time pinning my hair," she said as she turned back to her vanity mirror.

Their gazes held for a moment through that looking glass, held a beat longer and then let go.

That was it then. They were two friends that had navigated through the rise and fall of a relationship that both was and wasn't. And here they were, Ron and Hermione. Not RonandHermione. Just Ron. Just Hermione. Two separate people who put at least one what if to rest that day.

It was the end, to hush the thoughts of what could have been, and lay those thoughts to rest.

Hermione and Draco's new beginning started today.

And in a way, so did Ron Weasley's.

He rose from the chaise, let go of her hand after one final squeeze and walked out to the buzzing chattering noise outside the door.

The man paused just before turning the doorknob, turned to her and smiled. "You look beautiful today," he told her honestly, sincerely. "I'm really happy for you, Hermione. For both you and Malfoy."

"I'll be a Malfoy today too, Ronald," Hermione laughed.

Her words stopped his turning hand.

"And Ronald, thank you," she told him, smiling. "It means a lot to me."

He accepted her words with a steady nod of his head and opened the door.

Ginny summed it up best when she pushed past him into the room, his mother and countless other women trailing after her.

"Well it took you both long enough," the youngest Weasley said. "It's about bloody time. Now, we've got a Malfoy who's waiting so let's hope you're ready."

It was later at the reception, when he was sitting at a table, his feet sore from dancing and his cheeks hurting from all the laughter, some at his expense, when Hermione had laughingly commanded him and Harry to get in the throng of excited birds hoping to catch her bouquet.

He at least retained some dignity, enough to show his face around his brothers sometime in the next year or two. He at least hadn't caught that bouquet.

No.

That honour was reserved for Harry.

And as he stretched out his long limbs, a drink was placed in front of him.

Curiously he looked up to see Pansy Parkinson standing there, a smirk on her face. "It's a firewhisky. Thought you could use a drink after that crushing defeat."

He gestured to the seat beside him, mildly amused. "Defeat for you too, I imagine. Just don't go hexing Harry."

"Weasley, I don't need a bunch of flowers. We Slytherins make our own luck," she stated primly.

While the bantering continued, a little ways off, Hermione could be seen smiling at the curious pair before turning back to meet her new husband's silvery gaze.

"Your hands are dangerously low, Malfoy," the brunette smiled.

His tempting smirk adorned his lips. "Ah, yes, but you like it, _Malfoy._" The arms around her waist tightened, tugging her closer. "Besides, I'm a newlywed. I'm so expected to do it that I'm practically allowed."

"You'll use any excuse that you can to _Slytherin_ in a feel," Hermione laughed.

"Oh, puns now?" He lifted one brow. "Was that an invitation because I know something else you should let _Slytherin_."

Her face burning, she looked over his shoulder, on a precarious tiptoe in her high heels, her father a little bit behind him.

"Draco!"

"Hermione," he mocked before leaning down and placing a lingering kiss on her lips. "I love you."

"I love you too, very much," she replied with just as much head spinning, heart shattering emotion. "I love you too."

If she had had any doubts about being with him, they had long since disappeared. The what if's and what could have been's were well out of her mind.

She was with this man, committed and utterly invested in her love and devotion to him. This was where she was meant to be, with who she was meant to be with.

**Fin.**

**A/N: **This was written and dedicated to someone special. Hope you enjoyed.


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